Artūrs Kurucs (in the middle) Photo: “Baskonia”
Latvian basketball player Mārcis Šteinbergs scored seven points on the field in the second group tournament match of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Champions League on Thursday in the victory of Manrez “Baxi”. The Manrez unit beat Treviso’s NutriBullet at home with 108:88 (28:27, 31:10, 25:23, 24:28).
Steinberg scored one of two accurate two-pointers and one of three three-pointers in ten minutes and 21 seconds on the court, and threw both free throws into the basket. His account also includes three rebounds, one personal note, an efficiency factor of seven and a +/- score of +10. Joe Tomason was the most successful winner with 16 points. Mihals Sokolovskis was the most productive guest with 22 points.
The Manrez team with three wins in four games in Group J ranks second in the four-team competition, while NutriBullet is last without wins. In the first group tournament, 32 teams were divided into eight subgroups of four each. The winners of the sub-groups immediately secured a place in the first round of the play-off, where they were joined by eight more teams, who were cleared in the play-in series between the second and third place teams in the groups.
In the Play-in Tournament, Eighth Final and Quarterfinals, the winners will be determined in a series of up to two victories. The teams that make it to the quarterfinals will enter the Final Four, where they will compete for a prize pool of one million euros. “VEF Rīga” reached the “play-in” round, where the French club Dijon JDA lost in two games.
The Spanish club “San Pablo” of Burgos triumphed in the finalist tournament in Nizhny Novgorod in May, defending the title won last year. In 2020/2021, the fifth season of the tournament was played. In the first three years, basketball players from Tenerife’s Lenovo, Athens AEK and Bologna’s Segafredo Virtus were crowned champions.
Elsewhere, Latvian basketball player Artūrs Kurucs, represented by Vitorija “Bitci Baskonia”, celebrated his victory in the ULEB Euroleague game on Thursday in Wilberban. “Bitci Baskonia” surpassed the USB in Willerban by 72:69 (18:14, 15:16, 18:17, 21:22).
Kurucs spent four minutes and ten seconds on the field without scoring points. He did not hit the only two-point shot, but scored twice and ended the game with an efficiency of one. Alex Peters was the top winner with 17 points and five rebounds, while Paul Lakomb was the 16th scorer.
“Bitci Baskonia” takes 15th place in 28 games with nine victories. The leader with 21 successes in 26 games is Roland Schmidt from Barcelona. Last season, the champion was Istanbul’s “Anadolu Efes”, which defeated “Barcelona” in the final.
